Elizabeth Wurtzel (“Obama’s Other Radical Friends,” op-ed, May 2) can be forgiven her youthful fascination with radical bomber Bernardine Dohrn. We all have ideas at 15 that seem silly from the perspective of middle age. Barack Obama’s reported close relationship with Ms. Dohrn and Bill Ayers is much more troubling and raises legitimate questions about his judgment and maturity.

In a 33-year law-enforcement career I had occasion to arrest many charming criminals. One of the most engaging was a California radical, rapist and prison escapee associated with the Symbionese Liberation Army (remember them?) who was living in Louisiana. When, after an intensive undercover investigation, I confronted him with his true name, he stuck out his hand and said “You must have talked to them in Oakland.” Indeed I had, and what I learned was chilling.

From all accounts, Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn are equally charming. That does not nullify their crimes. Placing a bomb is one of the most evil of acts because the effects of a bomb are totally indiscriminate and incredibly devastating. Just ask a young Iraq War veteran who will live the rest of his or her life minus body parts. Just ask the families of those killed by Timothy McVeigh in the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

There is little moral difference between Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn and McVeigh. Timothy McVeigh was simply a less charming individual and a more successful bomber. He received just punishment for his crime. Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn did not.

Also: I linked Tom Maguire’s excellent post last week, but here it is again for those who might have an opportunity to subject Obama to the Ayers/Obama/Chicago Annenberg challenge. An excerpt (go to the posts for all the links):

One might well ask – how would Obama characterize his involvement with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Fund?

…How closely did Obama work with the fund’s executive director, Ken Rolling (and what does Mr. Rolling have to say about this)?

What did Obama know of Bill Ayers’ involvement (which the rest of us now know to be extensive)?

Eventually, the CACF was viewed as a failure (the final report says it had “little impact”) – what did Obama learn from that?

Finally, there is a question of shared values; setting aside Ayers’ bomb-tossing proclivities of the 70’s, he has a very hard left approach to education; for example, he explained to Hugo Chavez and a Venezuelan audience that public education was a way to promote the revolution…How much of this did Obama know then? Or is this just another situation, as with Jeremiah Wright, where Obama simply didn’t know anything about the fellow with whom he was associating?